Tactics Style

[_Aetius_]

Yeah halberdiers are pretty good but the poor morale stat is just to much, theproblem is they lack staying power and often run if a strong charge hits them, whereas some units wont run if say 15 out of the 60 men die from a charge halberdiers will quickly give up and flee.

Swiss halb's havent got great defence but theyll cut through cavalry even faster and the charge is davastating, not sure if they are better than billmen its hard to say both the same but slightly different ways to use them well. Also maybe not as important but still swiss halbs are faster than regular ones sometimes regular halbs are painfully slow.

I use swordsmen as the centre depending on the enemy and what kind of swordsmen i can train, swabian swordsmen are brilliant but if the enemy has cavalry heavy armies i use swordsmen on the wings and spearmen in the centre.

The army I use for the byzantines is 6 byzantine infantry, 2 units of varangians, 2 units of allagions, 2 units of kataphraktoi, 2 units of pikemen, 2 units of trebizond archers.

Its four byzantine infantry in a line in the centre, the 2 units of trebizonds behind them in the centre, one unit of varnagians on either side of the archers, the 1 pikemen unit on either side of the byzantine infantry, 2 units of byz infantry on the deep flanks as reserves and the kataphraktoi and allagions on the wings.

Thatll beat most enemy armies, it may not be very anti cavalry heavy but the amount of heavy cavalry in that army is more than enough to defeat enemy heavy cavalry.

[Boris of Bohemia]

Yeah halberdiers are pretty good but the poor morale stat is just to much, theproblem is they lack staying power and often run if a strong charge hits them, whereas some units wont run if say 15 out of the 60 men die from a charge halberdiers will quickly give up and flee.

Always mystified by this kind of comment. I countercharge all the time with halberds, straight into Mongol heavies and high royals, I just love it when cavalry charges my halberds. Makes my day.

[derF]

Always mystified by this kind of comment. I countercharge all the time with halberds, straight into Mongol heavies and high royals, I just love it when cavalry charges my halberds. Makes my day.

Yes they hack up mounted troop easily. But they do have low(ish) moral. So in the instance of being victim to a flank or something, they will waver.

As they have done in a few instances with me.

[Hold Steady]

Halberds are in fact militia kinda-guys, except the swiss. Billmen, don't know, but I think it's in fact still peasant class, though (as many other English unit types were) probably very well trained and led. Not that it matters really, but in the game it is represented by morale stats. The Halberd bearing units (except the swiss) bear, IIRC, low morale stats. Of course, Halberds and pikemen became (even more than crossbowmen, longbowmen and firearms) the scourge of Knights, being lower class and low trained, so plentifull in supply.
However, as much as you blow the horn of praise about them halberds here, as much as I believe that is the most independent and versatile unit in the field, I believe a well executed attack at these troops by high quality swordsmen, combined if possible with heavy cav and preluded by firearms fire (or other armour piercing things) will break them in any way. CMAA, VG, CFK or even heavy Carls will make short work of them, preferrably in wedge, because when the attack is executed probably, the low morale of the defender will be their doom.

But if you hadn't noticed, my favorite tactic involves anything with swords and axes, accompanied with Heavy or Medium Cav. I Like all aspects and units of this game, especially the mix, but any decend attack has heavy cav and swords, else no fun!

[_Aetius_]

Always mystified by this kind of comment. I countercharge all the time with halberds, straight into Mongol heavies and high royals, I just love it when cavalry charges my halberds. Makes my day.

There are lots of units that can charge into mongol heavies and cause damage but only a few have as poor a morale stat as halberdiers, billmen have decent morale and wont waver as easily if flanked there lack of armour is made up for by there speed and morale.

Besides i think halberdiers are better used on infantry its to dangerous sending them against cavalry alot of the time, id rather have them hacking into feudal men at arms and lower class troops than them doing the job of chivalric sergeants or feudal sergeants etc.

[Procrustes]

There are lots of units that can charge into mongol heavies and cause damage but only a few have as poor a morale stat as halberdiers, billmen have decent morale and wont waver as easily if flanked there lack of armour is made up for by there speed and morale.

Besides i think halberdiers are better used on infantry its to dangerous sending them against cavalry alot of the time, id rather have them hacking into feudal men at arms and lower class troops than them doing the job of chivalric sergeants or feudal sergeants etc.

Funny, my thoughts were completely the opposite - but everyone has their own style and I’m playing on ‘feel’ rather than by the numbers. I find that halbs are deadly to any kind of cav, and do a good job on infantry, too - very versatile. They are well enough armored so that they take fewer casualties than most other troops and they can chew through anything else that is armored or mounted. Yup, the moral is lower, but that can be surmpounted a bit with by decent general and some upgrades like churches. Besides, you can make just about anything route when it's flanked. I've always thought that head-on halbs do a better job on cav than spears, and a far, far better job on infantry than spears, and you don't have to keep them in formation. I'll generally mix some spears behind or next to my halbs so that they can hold the line if the halbs start to waver. The biggest drawback to me is that halbs are slow (but so are spears.)

Yup, billmen are better - but they are basically buff halbs and are only available to the English.

As far as tactics, it's not always the best way to win but I enjoy using axes and polearms. Even cheap militia sgts and urban militia are fun for me - though you really have to watch for routes. I love Vikings when I can get them - best part about playing as the Danes. Versatile - good against infantry or cav, good armor piercing. Very cheap - which is a good thing since they often take fearsome casualties. I love how sturdy they are - they'll wade into the fight and won't route until there are just a few men left. Even then they almost always rally and you can send them back.

Best,

P.

[Kommodus]

In theory, the low morale of halberdiers should be a problem. It's true that if they lost 15 men to a heavy cavalry charge, they would most likely rout, whereas other polearm units would hold firm. However, due to their incredibly high armor and defense ratings, they're more likely to take no more than two or three casualties when charged by cavalry, and their morale will therefore hold firm. They will also take very few casualties in the ensuing melee and easily win the fight, even though it'll take them a while to do it. This is what makes them so effective against cavalry.

It's true that they will lose to a combined-arms approach involving elite armor-piercing infantry, morale-reducing gunpowder weapons, and cavalry that successfully flanks them. But what homogeneous force wouldn't lose when up against such a foe? As has been pointed out, anything will rout when flanked. Remember that a halberdier-based army also relies on a combined-arms approach, and should include some good heavy cavalry and missile weapons of its own. The trick is to get the matchups you want - that is, the halberdiers take out enemy cavalry, while your own cavalry smashes the enemy swordsmen and axemen.

Between billmen and Swiss halberdiers, it seems to me that billmen generally have slightly better combat stats, but Swiss halberdiers have better morale. My preference is for the billmen. If anyone is worried about low morale for billmen or halberdiers, the solution is simple - don't get flanked. The same goes for any unit. No unit is designed to stand on its own, and infantry does much better when it has adequate cavalry support on its flanks.

The reason I've come to like polearm units is that their all-around performance in head-on fights is the best I've ever seen. The only units that out-perform them are true elites, like VG, JHI, CFK, etc - and those can out-perform anything. Every other unit (swords, spears, axes) has a serious weakness that can be exploited in a head-on engagement. As long as I give my polearms a head-on fight (which I can), they'll stick it out to the end, and they'll win.

[Hold Steady]

I concede, dear Kommodus, yes indeed, Halberds are indeed the most versatile and dependable unit in the sense that they can take on anything to a certain extent. It's probably the best one can buy for it's money, for their cost is low, and in turn you get a highly armoured, very versatile (though a bit slow) unit.
In fact, in my army of choice, there would be a few of them, since they can fill the role of spear/polearm-men for defence against cav ánd defend against all kind of infantry, except the most elite of them. Still, I have an unexplained preference for Sword and axeman as shock troops, so where someone would bring Halberds, I would bring a mix of Halberds, sword/axemen and perhaps a few spear-bearing infantry or pikemen. For do not forget halberds are slow dudes, if the enemy has a lot of missile troops and some HA, it will be a drag to get to them in one piece. Because of their slow speed they are a bit difficult to use on the attack. My preference for sword/cav armies will probably be because I like to attack, and like it to be able to attack with speed.
Nevertheless, If you can take only a few troops, Halberds will be among them, mostcertainly on the defence and even on the attack I would rather not miss them. Superb troop type!

[Ash]

Between billmen and Swiss halberdiers, it seems to me that billmen generally have slightly better combat stats, but Swiss halberdiers have better morale. My preference is for the billmen.

Billmen are awesome for the English. If you train them in Mercia and with a good command general, they should like get V4-5.

That's enough to make minced meat out of most units the AI throws at you.

And they're good against infantry as well. They're good against anything as long as they're not overwhelmed. Only way to stop them (for the AI) is to use annoying horse archers.
For some reason Billmen are outstanding when storming a fortified position. They should get morale penalties for getting overwhelmed (only a small hole in the wall to go through) but I've seen them hack up units in no time.

My conclusion is massed Billmen can take out most things in sieges, although I rely mostly on spears, swords, longbowmen and cavalry on the battlefield for some reason.

[Harald the ROCK]

If the opponent deploys very close to me I preffer to do a head on charge. I try to envelop the enemy so I tend to have a mixed center and cavalry hammering at the flanks. Horse archers are a lot of fun too, espescially when you have an all-out cavalry army. Isolating infantry units and hitting them from all sides, then retreating and repeat.

[ajaxfetish]

Tactics tend to work best when tailored to the enemy, and the nice thing about the pre-battle screen in VI is it lets you do that.

One of my favorite battles was as the English desperately defending Flanders from the yearly French assaults. One year I noticed that their initial troops on the field were almost all archers or crossbows, with just a couple of spear units. I put all my cavalry out first, and while deploying my army put them as close to the attacker position as possible, along with a few swordsmen to keep the spears busy, keeping the rest of my troops way back where reinforcements could reach them quickly. When the battle started I was right next to them, and my Hobilars and Royal Knights quickly overran their whole army before they could cause any real damage. They routed en masse and I started marching back to my other forces. His cavalry caught up with my rearguard as I was pulling back, though, but they were so demoralized after the first action that they immediately routed and his whole army withdrew.

Usually, though, I play pretty conservatively with a mixed infantry battle line (mostly spears) supported by archers, with cavalry guarding the flanks. Most factions have enough unit selection to get some variation of that and it's flexible enough to pull through in most situations.

[derF]

Besides i think halberdiers are better used on infantry

How very strange. The halberd is a weapon devised specially to knock knights of their precious horses. And they do so excellently.